Background: The development and application of medical technologies reflect the medical quality and clinical capacity of a hospital. It is also an effective approach in upgrading medical service and core competitiveness among medical institutions. This study aimed to build a quantitative medical technology evaluation system through questionnaire survey within medical institutions to perform an assessment to medical technologies more objectively and accurately, and promote the management of medical quality technologies and ensure the medical safety of various operations among the hospitals...

To improve continuity and coordination of care in geriatric rehabilitation, an integrated care pathway was developed in the south of the Netherlands. This study aims to reach nationwide consensus on the content and structure of this locally developed pathway using a two-round Delphi study with specialized elderly care physicians ( n = 37) as experts. In the first round, experts indicated their level of agreement on 65 statements representing the pathway on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Statements that did not gain consensus (interquartile range > 1) were redistributed to participants in Round 2...

BACKGROUND: Gene therapy trial results show potential to cure haemophilia A and haemophilia B. Securing broad access to a cure for a lifelong chronic disease is anticipated to face barriers at the individual and healthcare system levels, which can be partly mitigated by harmonized planning of clinical research studies. The aim of the coreHEM project was to determine the set of outcome measures required to evaluate efficacy, safety, comparative effectiveness and value of gene therapy for haemophilia...

Urticaria is a heterogeneous skin disorder that may be acute or chronic and is defined by the appearance of wheals, angioedema, or both. The European perspective is expressed in a recent international guideline and the American perspective has been based on the US Joint Task Force chronic urticaria practice parameter published in 2014. Both the international guideline (initiated by the European societies European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology [EAACI]/Global Allergy and Asthma European Network [GA2 LEN]/European Dermatology Forum [EDF] in collaboration with the World Allergy Organization [WAO]) and the US (American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology/American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology) guideline have been developed to help direct primary care physicians and specialists in the management of their patients with urticaria...

OBJECTIVES: Cancer cachexia is characterised by a progressive loss of muscle, resulting in functional impairment and shorter survival. Therefore, omega-3 has been studied for its role as an anti-cachectic therapy. This systematic review identified studies published on use of omega-3 in cancer cachexia in order to examine the potential benefit. METHODS: A systematic review of the literature using PubMed and B-on databases was conducted to identify clinical trials published between 2000 and 2015, to evaluate the effect of n-3 PUFAs on nutritional features and Quality of Life in cancer cachexia...

PURPOSE: There are no comprehensive guidelines for the use of FDG PET in the following three clinical scenarios: (1) diagnostic work-up of patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) at risk of future cognitive decline, (2) discriminating idiopathic PD from progressive supranuclear palsy, and (3) identifying the underlying neuropathology in corticobasal syndrome. METHODS: We therefore performed three literature searches and evaluated the selected studies for quality of design, risk of bias, inconsistency, imprecision, indirectness and effect size...

OBJECTIVES: For hospitalizations in rehabilitation centers (RCs) in France, the quantification of healthcare givers' activity is based on the dependency of the patients, defined as a total or partial inability to perform activities required for daily living without help. The tools currently used to quantify dependency are not sufficiently precise. Here we describe the construction of a new tool, the SOFMER Activity Score (SAS scoring), which allows for a good description of the level of activity of patients hospitalized in RCs, and a feasibility study of the tool...

BACKGROUND: We initiated a research program to develop a novel patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) to assess postoperative recovery from the perspective of abdominal surgery patients. In light of FDA recommendations, the first stage of our program aimed to, based on previous literature and expert input, develop a hypothesized conceptual framework portraying the health domains that are potentially relevant to the process of recovery after abdominal surgery. METHODS: This study was conducted in three phases: (1) systematic review to identify PROMs with measurement properties appraised in the context of recovery after abdominal surgery, (2) content analysis to categorize the health domains covered by the PROMs according to the ICF, and (3) two-round Delphi study to gain expert input regarding which of these health domains are relevant to the process of recovery...

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND: To achieve consensus on the minimum core data set for evaluation of peripheral arterial revascularisation outcomes and enable collaboration among international registries. METHODS: A modified Delphi approach was used to achieve consensus among international vascular surgeons and registry members of the International Consortium of Vascular Registries (ICVR). Variables, including definitions, from registries covering open and endovascular surgery, representing 14 countries in ICVR, were collected and analysed to define a minimum core data set and to develop an optimum data set for registries...

BACKGROUND: There are currently no national competency standards upon which to develop educational objectives for prosthetist/orthotists in Sweden. While standards have been developed in other countries, they cannot be applied without confirming their relevance in a Swedish context. OBJECTIVES: To describe and obtain consensus on core competencies required for newly graduated prosthetist/orthotists in Sweden. STUDY DESIGN: Modified Delphi process...

BACKGROUND: Infantile haemangiomas (IH) are the most common vascular tumours of infancy. Despite their frequency and potential complications, there are currently no unified UK guidelines for the treatment of IH with propranolol. There are still uncertainties and diverse opinions regarding indications, pre-treatment investigations, its use in PHACES syndrome, and cessation of treatment. METHODS: This study used a modified Delphi technique, which involved an international treatment survey, a systematic evidence review of the literature, a face-to-face multidisciplinary panel meeting and anonymous voting...

AIM: To develop and psychometrically test the Engagement of a Person with Dementia Scale. BACKGROUND: It is important to study engagement in people with dementia when exploring the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions that can promote meaningful activity, stimulation and wellbeing, through an increase in positive emotions and an improvement in quality of life. The Engagement of a Person with Dementia Scale was developed based on current literature and previous research work on a video coding tool to ascertain the effect of psychosocial interventions on engagement in people with dementia...

CONTEXT: To date, there is no study comparing palliative care (PC) development among African countries. OBJECTIVE: To analyze comparatively PC development in African countries based on region-specific indicators. METHODS: Data were obtained from the APCA Atlas of PC in Africa and a comparative analysis conducted. Nineteen indicators were developed and defined through qualitative interviews with African PC experts and a two-round modified Delphi consensus process with international experts on global PC indicators...

BACKGROUND: With the evolution of treatments for neurological diseases, the contents of core neurological examinations (NEs) for medical students may need to be modified. We aimed to establish a consensus on the core NE items for neurology clerks and compare viewpoints between different groups of panelists. METHODS: First, a pilot group proposed the core contents of NEs for neurology clerks. The proposed core NE items were then subject to a modified web-based Delphi process using the online software "SurveyMonkey"...

Objective The European League Against Rheumatism and the American College of Rheumatology jointly embarked on a new classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) project. Its first phase involved generation of a broad set of items potentially useful for classification of SLE. This study was undertaken to add the patient perspective to an expert Delphi approach and an early patient cohort study. Methods A national cross-sectional study was conducted. A self-report questionnaire was published in the "Schmetterling" (Butterfly), the quarterly journal of the German SLE patient association...

OBJECTIVE: To develop a core metric set to monitor the quality of maternity care. DESIGN: Delphi process followed by a face-to-face consensus meeting. SETTING: English Maternity units. POPULATION: Three representative expert panels: service designers, providers and users. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Maternity care metrics judged important by participants. METHODS: Participants were asked to complete a two phase Delphi process, scoring metrics from existing local maternity dashboards...

The rat cardiomyoblast cell line H9C2 has emerged as a valuable tool for studying cardiac development, mechanisms of disease and toxicology. We present here a rigorous proteomic analysis that monitored the changes in protein expression during differentiation of H9C2 cells into cardiomyocyte-like cells over time. Quantitative mass spectrometry followed by gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis revealed that early changes in H9C2 differentiation are related to protein pathways of cardiac muscle morphogenesis and sphingolipid synthesis...

BACKGROUND: Palliative sedation (PS) serves as a therapeutic option in cases of otherwise intractable suffering. As the use of sedative and hypnotic medication in many diverse situations is a core competency of anesthesiology, anesthesiologists are confronted with questions of sedative therapy at the end of life in institutions for specialized palliative care, in intensive care units and intermediate care wards. In recent years a number of guidelines have been published internationally but so far no official guidelines exist in Germany...

BACKGROUND: The demand for an eHealth-ready and adaptable workforce is placing increasing pressure on universities to deliver eHealth education. At present, eHealth education is largely focused on components of eHealth rather than considering a curriculum-wide approach. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop a framework that could be used to guide health curriculum design based on current evidence, and stakeholder perceptions of eHealth capabilities expected of tertiary health graduates...